Thoughts, poems, prayers, sermons, and more from the Rector of St. Peter's Episcopal Church.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Sermon: July 15 (Proper 10)

As I was watching espn, I admit the remote often goes to channel 33… I listened to the charity work of the MLB with the Boys & Girls Club (the NFL supports the United Way), which a few years ago would not have been talked about or promoted…

From time to time you will hear about athletes too… -Dikembe Mutombo who is orginially from Congo, part of the great forwards out of Georgetown in the 80’s like Patrick Ewing, Alonzo Mourning…he has just helped built a hospital back home in the capital of Congo…

But the story that caught my attention that I think beautifully dovetails with Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan is that of a young phenom in women’s tennis of the late 1970’s and early 80’s. She turned pro at the age of 14 in 1979. She would beat the best from Billie Jean King to Chris Evert to Martina Navratilova. She was ranked second in the world by the age of 16 and by the age of 19 it was all over being forced from the game because of injury. Her name is Andrea Yeager.

But her quick rise to fame and the sudden end to it all does not even begin to tell her story. For Andrea Yeager, it was never about winning… Even as she rose to #2 in the rankings, she would visit hospitals nearby to reach out to the young who were there suffering with disease. She never wanted to be #1 and lose her ability to reach out… When her tennis career ended, she began a new one, helping kids with cancer. What is amazing is that she gave everything she had (all the money she earned from the tour, from endorsements, her pension & investments) to start Silver Lining Ranch in Colorado in 1990. In 2006, she continued her mission with kids with cancer but is now known as Sister Andrea as she is now a Dominican Nun in the Episcopal Church. As Billie Jean King said: "She has done so many good things for so many others since leaving tennis, and her journey continues today."

Sister Andrea speaks of following God’s call. I hear in what she has done what we heard in the Gospel today…

Jesus said, “Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" The lawyer said, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise." Indeed that is what Sister Andrea Jaeger has done with her life. But that same go and do likewise is also addressed to us.

I think of Stephen Mitchell’s wonderful reflective piece on the Good Samaritan as they meet in heaven.

"The priest, the Levite, the Samaritan, and the man who fell among thieves meet in heaven to talk over old times. Since heaven has no past or future, they find themselves in the inn on the road to Jericho. "I felt awful about not helping you," the priest says. "My heart wasn't open enough. But I'm working on it." "The last time I had stopped to help a wounded man by the roadside," the Levite says, "he beat me and ran off with my wal­let. I was afraid." "It was my good fortune to be in the right place at the right time," the Samaritan says. "I didn't stop to think; the oil and wine poured themselves, the wound bound itself. My only prob­lem came later, dealing with all the praise."

The man who fell among thieves takes another sip of wine. "Charity begins at home," he says. "If I had been kinder to my­self, I wouldn't have been in that mess to begin with. But I am very grateful to all three of you. It takes great humility to step aside, for a parable's sake. And without the parable, I would never have been saved." (Parables & Portraits by Stephen Mitchell)

We are like the priest and levite, challenged to go beyond our fear, all that holds us back from helping others. Even Jesus in the parable offers a critique of using the Law as proscribed by God to hold one back from doing good to one in need… We need to be like the Samaritan, the heretic, the person no one ever would have thought of as the one to help out the man who had fallen and yet did! It is easy to pass on by (excuse)…The neighbor is someone who acts on love, without always thinking through it, without always knowing why… That is the story of Andrea Yeager and it is our story too…

How shall I inherit eternal life? asks the lawyer, and I think of some words of 35 years ago that speak to the answer that Jesus gives…

(Lawyer: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." Jesus: "You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.")

“Jesus' answer to the lawyer means simply, 'You don't need any great speculation over the meaning of life; you just need to do the ordinary, everyday things; you need only be there when your fellow man (or woman) is in difficulty, then you are already in accord with that meaning. Then you are not merely seeking that meaning; you are in the process of fulfilling it. For you will meet God in the imprisoned, the hungry, and the naked; when you are close to all of those, then you also dwell close to God, and you are in contact with the basic meaning and goal of your life.”(Helmut Thielicke, How to Believe Again, Fortress, 1972).

The Good News of Jesus Christ is with the neighbor who showed mercy, who gave love to one in need. We are to be that neighbor, to go and do likewise. Amen.